—- Here are photos of other New Year fireworks displays from places already into the New Year. More here.

—- In the meantime, Bangkok is ringing in the New Year on a not so great note. Via the AP:

BANGKOK, Thailand – Nine bombs exploded across Bangkok as the Thai capital celebrated the New Year, killing two people and driving thousands of revelers home as the city canceled its countdown festivities.

The bombings late Sunday and early Monday capped a year of unrest in Thailand, including a military coup three months ago and an increasingly violent Muslim insurgency in the south.

Six near-simultaneous explosions Sunday night killed two people and injured 26.

Hours later, near the same shopping complex where thousands of people had planned to count down the New Year, three blasts minutes after midnight wounded eight people, including a foreigner who was rushed to the hospital after her legs were blown off, the iTV television station reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

National police chief Gen. Ajirawit Suphanaphesat said he did not believe insurgents were behind the attacks in Bangkok, a major international banking and technology hub for Asia.

Bangkok Mayor Apirak Kosayothin ordered the cancellation of the two major public New Year’s Eve countdown celebrations and other smaller ones.

“Due to several bomb explosions in Bangkok and for the sake of peace and security, I would ask all of you to return to your homes now” Apirak told some 5,000 revelers at the downtown Central World Plaza shopping mall, hours before the second set of explosions went off in the area. The crowd dispersed quickly but calmly.

The Counterterrorism blog is on top of the latest developments there, and notes that one suspected has been arrested.

—- Fresh off of creating yet another new “milestone” for troops deaths in Iraq, the MSM moves on to another one, this time, the 3,000th death. No matter the media’s obsession with casualties in the war, I’d like to wish our fighting men and women serving all the best in the coming year. May God bless you, and we’re all hoping things will take a turn for the better in Iraq and Afghanistan so you can start coming home.

—- Check out NRO’s symposium of opinions on the best and worst of politics in 2006.

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Lastly, I’d like to wish each and every one of my readers a very happy new year. Thanks for continuing to visit this blog and sharing your opinions with me on the various important issues of the day. 2006 was a great year for this blog, and I’m hoping 2007 will be even better

In addition to a win over the Saints today, we needed a Giants loss yesterday and a Packers loss tonight against Chicago to make it into the playoffs. Well, today’s game is now meaningless for the Panthers as the Giants beat Washington yesterday.

Speaking of Green Bay, they still have a very slim chance of making the playoffs. Here’s the playoff scenario for GB:

The Packers (7-8) are one of five teams tied for the final playoff spot and could know their fate even before kickoff depending on what happens in games involving the New York Giants on Saturday, and Carolina, Atlanta and St. Louis earlier on Sunday.

If New York loses, then the Packers would need a win, coupled with either a Rams loss, Panthers win or Falcons win to reach the postseason.

If New York wins, Green Bay could remain mathematically alive to win a strength of victory tiebreaker with the Giants, but would need an elaborate, unlikely combination of results from around the league to make that happen.

If they don’t make it into the playoffs, I wonder if this will be the last game Bret Favre plays?

ST reader Sev sends along this story, written by Craig Smith. Smith took a look at some poll numbers that said nearly 70% of people in this country were unhappy with the direction this nation was headed and concluded that we are indeed spoiled brats:

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ”What we are so unhappy about?”

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all involved. Whether you are rich or poor they treat your wounds and even, if necessary, send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home, you may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of having a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes; an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

I think Smith has a point. I think Americans sometimes take their freedoms and how good we do have it here for granted. On the other hand, we can be content with what we have and still be concerned with the direction the country is headed. What do you think?

The Associated Press has a nice write up and recap of the arrival of Ford’s casket at the Capitol yesterday:

With the thunder of cannon and the whistle of a bos’n pipe, the nation’s capital honored Gerald R. Ford’s memory Saturday in funeral ceremonies recalling the touchstones of his life, from combat in the Pacific to a career he cherished in Congress to a presidency he did not seek.

Lights bathed the granite arch of the World War II memorial commemorating the Pacific theater as Ford’s nighttime funeral procession, bearing his wife, Betty, and the casket of the 38th president, stopped there in tribute to his years as an ensign and gunnery officer. The other arch, representing the Atlantic theater, stood in darkness.

An aircraft from the White House fleet brought Ford’s body to Andrews Air Force Base from services near his adopted California home, where mourners streamed past his casket in quiet remembrance of the even- keeled man summoned to the presidency in a time of national trauma 32 years ago.

Vice President Dick Cheney, Ford’s chief of staff long ago and an honorary pallbearer now, stood silently among the dignitaries attending the brief arrival ceremony, which was punctuated by cannon fire. The arrival opened the Washington portion of Ford’s state funeral, with procession that took his casket from Maryland to Virginia and then over the Memorial Bridge _ dressed in flags and funeral bunting _ to the memorial, past the White House without pausing and on to the U.S. Capitol for the first service and a lying in state that continues until Tuesday morning.

Mrs. Ford sat stoically in the snaking line of gleaming limousines, clutching a tissue and dabbing her face on occasion, then walked slowly at the Capitol in the arm of her military escort, soon followed by the casket bearing her husband of 58 years. Another round of cannon fire rang out.

The pageantry was muted, as Ford wanted, but the ritual unfolded with regal touches and according to exacting traditions dating back to the mid-1800s.

In one departure from tradition, pallbearers placed his flag-draped casket outside the House chamber before it was taken to the Rotuna to lie in state. That honored Ford’s years of service in the House as a congressman from Michigan and minority leader.

Similarly, Ford’s body will rest briefly outside the Senate chamber on Tuesday, commemorating his service as vice president, which also made him Senate president.

On the way to Capitol Hill, World War II veterans and Boy Scouts gathered by the memorial and saluted at the brief, poignant stop. Mrs. Ford waved through the window. A bos’n mate stepped forward to render “Piping Ashore,” a piercing whistle heard for centuries to welcome officers aboard a ship and now to honor naval service.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who promised before and after the elections that the Democratic Congress would be the “most ethical Congress in history”, said through a spokesman that Rep. Conyers will “remain chairman of the Judiciary Committee.”